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An UrbanDaddy Publication

03/18/2013

Your Spring Awakening Begins Now: The Checklist

Najib Benouar

Wednesday marks the vernal equinox and thus the official end to winter and beginning of spring.

Which means you’ve basically got this week to check off any lingering items on your winter bucket list, and then get yourself fully into spring mode. (And you know what that means: the reappearance of sundresses. Lovely, lovely sundresses.)

So, during this week, we’re helping you out with a little series we like to call “Your Spring Awakening.” And we begin with your spring preparedness guide (you may want to print this out and tape it to your bathroom mirror).

Herewith, everything you should have done by week’s end.

• Hide away the heavy winter coats. Stick them in the darkest outskirts of your closet to make room for all that linen and fresco wool you've had packed away.

• Clean and store your chunky winter knits to really make some room for the summer stuff. If you don’t have the time for a trip to the dry cleaners, we’d suggest at minimum giving them a quick DIY freshen-up before stashing them away: a quick dunk in cold water, a quick dunk in Woolite suds and another cold dunk. Then lay flat to dry.

• Fit in your last wintry activity by Wednesday. If the ice rink is still open (and that’s your thing), go for it. Give your winter beard its last tangled hurrah. Or bid your proper farewells to brunching indoors.

• Start planting. Remember that Japanese garden knife we recommended as a spring must-have? Now’s the time to use it.

• Ready your sports gear. The tennis racquet, baseball mitt, golf clubs, bocce set—you should know where they all are when the last-minute sporting opportunity arises. They should also get a good dusting-off beforehand.

• Give any linen or cotton suiting a good steaming. While some old-fashioned shower steam might get out a few wrinkles, you’ll want to consider a small travel steamer to lift any lingering stains or the tougher wrinkles.